Mirror
by jon1305
Summary: This is a reverse-commission from an amazing artist from DeviantArt named A9971309, about Yugo's first confrontation with his father about what is really under his hat. WARNING: Spoilers! Read after watching S2 E26 of the anime


**Mirror**

The sun had just started to peak over the small hills overlooking the town of Emelka, chasing away the morning chill. Its rays of lights shown down upon the houses, peering through cracks in the residents' doors, and through the drawn shutters. Morning dew coated the grass which the hillside wore like a thick blanket. A light sheet of fog danced inches off of the ground, swiftly retreating into the rivers flowing nearby.

Mornings are always so beautiful out here away from the bustle of the big cities, like Amakna. Village life had a different feel around it. In cities, many people pass each other, carrying on with their lives as if they didn't matter. Out here, beyond the hills, life seemed like one giant shared adventure. Everyone seemed to know everyone else, and the daily tasks were done collectively. For only by working together to feed the heard of gobballs, or plow the fields, or even sweep the streets, was life sustainable. Townsfolk all had an inherit feeling of community, knowing each set of hands helped craft the lives of those around them.

In village life, everyone had their job to do to help keep the village afloat. This one morning in particular was the day a little six year old would take on his first set of tasks by helping his father in the kitchen.

The rays of light pierced through the curtains of the young boy's room, slowly nudging him awake, but to no avail. Being young, the boy loved sleep. He made sure to continue naptime as a mandatory provision. He wouldn't be waking up any time before nearly ten o'clock, unless enticed by the smell of food.

Living in an inn, his father would single handedly take care of the cooking, cleaning, and customer needs, while he would sit by, learning every move his father would do; so that one day, the boy would be able to run his own inn, just like his "papa".

The door to the young boy's room slowly creaked open, as a pair of slipper-covered feet tiptoed across the hard wood flooring. A large figure had made its way over to the substantially smaller mound under the blanket. The figure stood silently, watching the hand-sewn quilt slowly rise, then descend. Resting on the pillow, the large figure could see the boy's blue hat, fitted with two small horn-shaped additions on top of it.

Scared of the consequences of waking the youngster up far before he was used to, the man hesitated. Arm outstretched, hovering over the blanket, he rested his hand on the mound, and slowly rocked it from side-to-side.

"Hey, Yugo. Wake up little one." Alibert spoke softly, as to not frighten the child.

The boy rolled onto his back, and started to sit up, rubbing his eyes with his small hands. "Papa… w-wha…"

"It's time to help me downstairs. You wanted to help me in the kitchen, remember?" Alibert's voice remained low, mentally preparing himself for the boy to start crying from being woken up.

Yugo looked around his room, noticing how dark it was. Turning his gaze towards the window which was right next to his bed, he saw the sun barely shining. "It's still night papa."

Alibert smiled, patting his son's head lightly. "It's just early. I'd say around six. We need to start making the bread early so it will be ready when the customers wake up. Come on, let's get you dressed and ready to help." He pulled the blankets aside, and grabbed Yugo's hand, leading him towards the dresser. The sudden shock of cold hit Yugo, and made him jump slightly as his bare feet touched the cold wooden floor.

Alibert dug through the drawers looking for something that he wouldn't mind Yugo getting dirty. He found a yellow sleeveless shirt, and a pair of blue shorts. Yugo often wore these colors in whatever he was doing. They just seemed to match his dirty-blonde hair and brown eyes well. "Here we go. This will work just fine. Arms up."

Yugo slowly put his arms towards the ceiling, swaying side to side from being tired, nearly falling over. As soon as his arms were free from the pajama shirt, they fell down, holding tightly to his hat. Alibert noticed he never took it off. Whether Yugo was in bed, or playing outside in the rain, or even taking a bath, it never left his head. He never worried about it, but sometimes Alibert would catch himself wondering why Yugo was so self-conscious about it.

Alibert shook his head, waking himself from his daydreaming to the sound of Yugo whimpering and shaking from the chill. "Sorry." Alibert responded, putting Yugo's new shirt on, and tying the neck strap around a button which hung like a pendant right below Yugo's chin. He placed the child's pajamas on the floor next to the dresser. After replacing his pajama bottoms with shorts, Alibert kissed Yugo's forehead and held his hand as they walked downstairs. Yugo rubbed his eye with his free hand, yawning frequently.

Alibert had a small plate of food already set out as the table for Yugo when they get to the kitchen. Alibert sat Yugo down and started gathering ingredients from the pantry. Yugo had placed a piece of already-cut apple in his mouth and chewed slowly, eyes half open. Things were still a bit hazy for him, not used to waking up this early.

A small, yellow bird flew down from the stairs, landing on the table next to Yugo, who reached out and pet it. "G'mornin Az" he greeted his pet thought a mouth half-full of apple chunks.

The heat coming from the oven warmed the kitchen up, making Yugo stop from shaking.

"Do you know what goes into bread, Yugo?" Alibert called from the storeroom. Sounds of jars clanging and bags shifting could be heard coming from within.

"Umm… white powder?" he responded unsure of its name.

"Flour, yes. And?" Alibert came out carrying a sack of flour, and a small jar with fine brown powder.

"Bread stuff…?" Yugo said between bites of his breakfast.

Alibert has scooped a small handful of the brown powder, and took them over to the table. "These little guys are called yeast. They make air bubbles inside the oven so the bread will be fluffy." Alibert poured the small bit of dust onto the table so Yugo could see. Then he grabbed a pinch of salt and held it in front of Yugo.

"Sall!" Yugo said immediately.

Alibert chuckled slightly. "It's sal **t**." He said, putting emphasis on the 't' "And salt is important, but it likes to fight with the yeast all the time" He put the salt on the table, and pushed it away from the yeast with the side of his hand. "So we need to be careful about putting it in the dough. One last thing…" He said pointing to the sink.

"Water?" Yugo asked questioningly.

"Yup. And with these all put at the right time, in the right amounts, we can make delicious bread. As soon as you're done eating, you can help me portion the right amounts."

Yugo nodded, and tried eating his breakfast faster, only to be met with his father's hand in front of his face. "Whoa! Don't eat too fast. You might choke on your food."

Yugo's cheeks were puffed out, filled with chunks of food. He tried swallowing hard, reached for his cup of milk, and drank to help the food go down. With a heavy breath, he nodded "Sorry papa."

Alibert went to get the rest of the ingredients, and took a scale from the shelf, as well as a scoop, and placed them both on the counter next to the open sack of flour. As he prepped the station with the ingredients, Yugo finished drinking his milk, and jumped down from his seat, holding his cup and plate. He made his way over to the sink, and reaching up high on his tiptoes, put them sink with a light clang. He made his way over to what Alibert has set on the counter, and started up at him.

"Oh, right. Here." Alibert placed a stool at the side of the counter, and reaching under Yugo's arm, lifted him onto the stool.

"Do you know how the scale works?"

Yugo shook his head, staring at the contraption's two disks. One side had a bowl, but one side had a small bag of what looked like rice or small rocks, with the letter F on the side. Alibert gave the scoop to Yugo, and pointed to the bag, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"This bag is the perfect weight for the flour. Use the scoop to put some flour in the bowl, when the flour is heavy enough, the scale will flatten out." Alibert pushed on the bowl side, showing him how it moves.

"Too much, and it will be heavier." He pushed it all the way down, making a metal clanging sound.

"You need just the right amount. Got it?"

Yugo nodded, and started shoveling flour into the bowl from the open sack. At first, nothing had happened. Yugo started to worry, but seeing his father's smile reassured him he was doing what he needed to. After three or four more scoops, he noticed the scale moving on its own. Yugo smiled as he put more flour in the bowl. But his smile quickly faded as the bowl continued moving down. The scale settled with a metallic clanging sound, which made Yugo frown.

"It's okay. When it gets close to being flat, you can use your hand to take smaller bits out of the bowl." Alibert took pinches at a time, and returned some of the flour back to its sack. When the scale began moving back, Yugo put down the scoop and followed what his dad had done.

When the scale was perfectly flat, Alibert patted Yugo's head, making the boy smile. "There you go. Perfect amount of flour. Now look as your hand."

Yugo noticed how his palm was covered in a thin layer of the white dust.

"Try clapping your hands once." Alibert said.

Yugo clapped his hands together, making a small cloud of flour go everywhere on the counter. Yugo jumped back slightly, and laughed at the mess that was made. The sound of Yugo's tiny laugh made Alibert laugh as well. Az flew around excitedly, trying to avoid the flour as it shot into the air.

After measuring out the rest of the ingredients, Alibert pushed the scale aside, and aligned the measured ingredients in a row. Az watched them work as he perched on a shelf above what they were doing.

"I'll mix everything, but you need to add it as I call it out to you. Got it?"

"Yes papa."

"Alright. Pour half of the flour right here on the counter." Alibert said tapping his palm on the wooden surface.

Yugo lifted one side of the bowl, letting the flour pour out, without having to lift the whole weight of it. It was almost too heavy, but Alibert reached over and helped him lift it.

"Next, some water, and the yeast." Alibert had made a nest out of the flour so the water wouldn't go everywhere.

Again, with the help of his dad, Yugo lifted the small bucket, and poured water into the flour nest. When he put it down, he reached for the small pile of brown dust, and put that in the mix. Alibert started folding everything together, making sure to mix every part of the flour without having the water overflow.

"Okay. Now give me the rest of the flour."

Since Alibert had both of his hands kneading the dough, Yugo struggled slightly trying to lift the rest of the flour. Right when he had the bowl on its side, his hand slipped, turning the bowl completely over, and sending himself off the stool. Alibert took his hands away from the dough to catch Yugo before he hit the ground. But when the bowl landed upside down, it sent half-mixed flour and water onto the two of them. There was a small splotch of the mix on Yugo's hat, and some on his shirt, but the most of it landed on the floor. The loud crash of the bowl tipping, and the stool hitting the floor, sent Az flying out of the kitchen.

Once everything caught up to him, Yugo started to cry, knowing he messed up the mix.

"Shhh. Don't cry Yugo. It barely got on you." Alibert took a towel and wiped the mess off of Yugo's shirt.

"And only a little bit got on your hat. I can clean that righ-." Albert grabbed Yugo's hat, and lifted it off of his head, only to stop mid thought. Under Yugo's hat were two very small blue wings, glowing just faintly enough to not shine through the wool of the hat.

Yugo's eyes went wide as he noticed his hat missing from his head. He quickly jumped off of his dad, grabbing his hat, and returning it to his head. He spun around to see Alibert staring at him, mouth agape. A look of horror swept over Yugo's face. He turned and ran for the stairs, leaving his dad completely bewildered.

Yugo ran for his room, and shut the door behind him. He jumped onto this bed, buried his face into the pillow as he cried. Az and flown down beside him, and chirped.

Yugo looked up at Az, choking on his words and he tried speaking though the sobs "Az, w-what do I d-do? I'm not norm-mal. Now papa k-knows I'm b-broken. W-what if h-he doesn't love m-me anymore?"

Tears continued to roll down his face as he waited for a response from his pet bird, who's only response was a low chirp. Yugo reburied his face into his pillow and continued crying.

After about twenty minutes, he was able to calm down enough to get up from his bed. He walked over to a mirror hanging on the opposite side of his room, next to the dresser. He could see himself staring back at him, with the same puffy, red eyes and tear streaks down the side of him face. He lifted his hands to his hat, only to put them down and turn to Az.

"I'm too scared. What will papa do?"

He slowly turned back to the mirror, and reached for him hat again. Throwing it to the ground beside him, he stared at the tiny set of wings above his head. He's always known about them, and he knew the other kids didn't have them. It worried him every time he saw them, hoping that they'd go away when he grew up; But exactly the opposite happened. As he got older, he noticed them getting bigger. He feared one day they would be too big for his hat. But he mentally put that off for when it would happen.

Tears started forming in his eyes again as he reached for the top of his head.

"If… If only…"

Tears began running down his face as hands touched the spot that the wings protruded from. Many times before, he has tried just removing them, only to find his fingers pass straight through the blue glow as if they weren't there at all. He couldn't physically touch them, which made him worry about them that much more.

He grabbed a handful of the hair around his wings, and pulled as hard as he could. Beginning to sob again, he fell to his knees.

"If only I were not broken like this!" He yelled tearing a few blades of hair from his head.

His crying stopped, and he turned towards his door as he heard footsteps on the other side of it. The door flew open, and Alibert went right for the kneeling child. "Yugo!"

Yugo's heart felt like it would burst out of his chest, as time seemed to slow down. Unsure of what his dad would do to him, he shut his eyes and cringed, waiting for the next thing for his dad to say.

Alibert grabbed Yugo by the shoulders and pulled him in close to his chest. "Don't cry my son."

Confused, and terrified at the same time, Yugo grabbed onto his father's shirt. "Pa-… papa?"

"Yes Yugo?" Alibert asked

"Is papa going to throw me away now?" Yugo squeaked, tears still rolling down his face.

"Why would I ever do something like that, silly boy?" Alibert said, half laughing.

"Be-because I'm b-broken" Yugo sniffled.

"You're not broken. You're my son. And nothing is going to change that, ever."

Shocked as hearing what he had not expected, Yugo wasn't sure what to say. "D-do you like me papa?"

"I love you Yugo. I always will." Alibert said, hugging him tightly.

"So we can stay together forever?"

"Forever…"

Yugo closed his eyes, burying his face into the side of Alibert's shirt, smiling. He felt so relieved to hear how Alibert wasn't going to throw him away. Expecting the worse, he was too scared to even think about if Alibert was okay with finding out about Yugo's wings.

Ever since he was an infant, Alibert noticed the blue spots on his head, but just thought it was weird hair coloring. Whenever he would try to take off Yugo's hat for baths, Yugo would start crying; so he respected Yugo's wished, assuming his hat was Yugo's version of a security blanket.

"So papa's not mad at me?" Yugo said, looking up at his father.

"No. I am not mad at you." Alibert saw Yugo's eyes completely red and puffy from his crying.

"It looks like you could lay down for a while. You look so tired. I could wake you later after you rest some." Lifting his son, he walk over to the bed, and tucks him in under the thick quilt. Az landed on the pillow right next to Yugo, curling up with him in bed.

"I love you papa." Yugo said settling back into his bed.

"And I will always love you, my son." Alibert leaned over and kissed his forehead.

Yugo closed his eyes, and turned onto his side, quickly falling fast asleep. Alibert smiled as he gave Yugo one last look before he turned and shut the door, making his way back to the kitchen.

 **Author's Note:**

I really liked writing this story. Thanks to real-life events, I had been in a writing slump. Once I saw a post on my Tumblr feed about a comic someone drew on DeviantArt, I changed my mind about what I wanted to write.

The comic, titled "Mirror" was a short story written by someone by the name of A9971309.

After reading the short comic about ten times over, I felt how this would be perfect if it were written out entirely. So I sent a short message over asking it they were okay with me writing this story.

Once I read the message giving me the green light, I immediately started writing notes in my pad, like I do for all of my stories.

A99 is an amazing artist, and you should totally check out their DeviantArt page in the description!

The Characters and setting belong to Ankama, the underlying strife belongs to A99, and the details were all by myself.


End file.
